


In the Quiet Nights

by DarkJediQueen



Series: Sterek Bingo 2020 [23]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Insomnia, M/M, Nightmares, One-Shot, Sterek Bingo 2020, no one died
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-23
Updated: 2020-05-23
Packaged: 2021-03-02 23:48:03
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,529
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24335365
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DarkJediQueen/pseuds/DarkJediQueen
Summary: When insomnia strikes again, Stiles goes to who he went to years ago, in the aftermath of being possessed by the Nogitsune.
Relationships: Derek Hale/Stiles Stilinski
Series: Sterek Bingo 2020 [23]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1726042
Comments: 16
Kudos: 206





	In the Quiet Nights

**Author's Note:**

> **Year** : Future  
>  **Spoilers** : Everything  
>  **Notes** : This is a completed One-shot. There will be no more written in the universe.  
>  **Beta** : Grammarly

Derek heard the shout, and he sat up in bed, looking around for whoever was screaming. He felt a hit against his side and found that it was Stiles. Stiles had crept into his bed and was thrashing about in the throes of a nightmare. Derek caught him as he sat up, screaming himself awake. He laid down and pulled Stiles into his body, holding him tight like he used to. That last time that Stiles had dreams like this.

After last week, Derek wasn't shocked that Stiles had started to have nightmares again. The only thing that shocked him was that Stiles had got into his bed, again without waking up Derek. Stiles was crying silently against Derek's chest, and Derek knew better than to ask him how he was. He would say he was fine, but they both knew he was anything but fine.

The door to the room opened up, and there was Peter, his eyes flashing blue as he tried to take in what was going on. As soon as Peter saw Stiles, he nodded his head and stepped out of the room again. Derek waited for Stiles to calm down before he slipped out of bed to get a cold rag for Stiles to clean his face with. Stiles likely wasn't going to get a lick of sleep for the rest of the night.

On the way back to the bed, Derek grabbed his Kindle and tossed it onto the other side of Stiles. He wiped at Stiles' eyes, wanting to care for him like he used to. Stiles hadn't been around as much like this since he had gotten back from college.

Derek's phone vibrated, and he looked down at it. Stiles took the rag to blow his nose into and wipe that off. It was Stiles' father thanking Derek for taking him in. It was his second nightmare of the night it seemed. Derek didn't respond, he didn't need to. He assumed that Peter had texted him. Derek knew that they were friends, Peter helped him with supernatural cases, and Peter helped him not be lonely. Derek wasn't sure if it went beyond friends or not, and he really didn't care. Peter was happy for the first time in a long time, and it was all that mattered.

"Thank you," Stiles said. His voice was rough from screaming and then from crying. He held out the rag in his hand, and Derek took it before tossing it into the bathroom.

Derek got them situated in bed so that he could wrap himself around Stiles and Stiles read on the Kindle. It was why Derek had bought the first back-lit Kindle that he had. Because in the aftermath of Stiles being free of the Nogitsune was a rash of nightmares. At least with this, Stiles rested some, and Derek could get more sleep. The light didn't bother him, and Stiles could read. It was a good thing, all in all. Derek had never told Stiles that it was why he had the Kindle. Why he had bought it. This one didn't even have games, it was just a standard Kindle, but the local library rented out E-books, and even if Stiles didn't have anything on there that he liked, he would buy a book or two to read and then when the next time for food came around, Stiles paid for him.

Stiles didn't have to, but he did, and Derek understood that it was more than just paying back for a book that Derek would probably never read.

"Water?" Stiles asked.

Derek let go of Stiles long enough to grab the water bottle that he kept at the bedside. Stiles drank over half of it before handing it over. Derek put it back where it belonged and settled in to wrap himself around Stiles again. Derek let sleep pull him under as he laid there. He would know now if Stiles fell asleep and woke with another nightmare. He would know, and it would be fine.

* * *

Derek looked at the Pack as they all talked among themselves. None of them had asked about Stiles' scent that was heavy in the house. It was Derek's turn to host the movie night, and he gladly did it. He just kind of wished that the Pack wasn't so self-absorbed. He looked at where Jackson and Ethan were lounging in the corner with Lydia. Those three were thick as thieves, and Derek wasn't sure if Jackson was in a relationship with both of them or not. They had never said anything to him, and Derek wasn't ever going to ask. Vibration from his phone had Derek looking down at it. He huffed and shook his head.

_Has anyone asked you where Stiles is?_

Derek found his uncle, who was at the side of the room, and he locked eyes with him before shaking his head. The flash of Peter's eyes was all that Derek needed to know how pissed off his uncle was at that. Cora missing wasn't that big of a deal. She had only been back in Beacon Hills for a year. Carrying along with her a set of twins that were a year old and Alpha red eyes. That had been passed onto Derek as soon as they had been able to do so because she didn't want it.

After going back to South America, Cora had gone back to the Pack she had been with for years and then fell in love with a wonderful man. She joined his Pack and was happy for the first time in a very long time. Then another Pack had attacked. Cora and the twins had been on their way to see Derek and Peter for the first time since the twins had been born. Derek had gone down for the birth, but Cora hadn't wanted to travel until the twins were walking well enough. Then when she had just crossed over the border into Texas, she felt her Pack bonds start to snap. She got off at the next stop and rented a car because the twins couldn't stop crying after losing everyone. The other Pack had been wiped out, leaving Cora the only person who was alive to take the Alpha Spark. Other Packs looked for survivors and found no one, counting the bodies that were left in the jungle where the Pack called home.

Cora hadn't been the same, but she pushed on for her kids. That was why the house had been built. It was usually just the five of them there, but since Stiles nightmares had started up three weeks ago, he had all but moved in. He was up in the third level of the house with Cora and the twins who were well into their terrible twos. They were quite enamored with Stiles, though, and if it wasn't for the soundproofing that had the room they were in shut off from anyone hearing, Derek would be able to hear Stiles telling them a bedtime story. It wasn't the best, but it was the most soundproofed room, so when the Pack came over for movie night, the twins got to have a sleepover in the library. It worked well and made it so that no one woke them up. Cora usually flitted between the rooms, checking on them and hanging with the Pack.

"Where is Cora?" Allison asked.

"Getting the twins down for the night," Peter answered before Derek could.

Derek understood what Peter was doing with that, so he let him handle it. Derek looked around the room and smiled at the large Pack that they had.

It was actually two Packs who were merged through a shared want of protecting Beacon Hills. Derek's Pack was made up of his family, as well as Jackson. Scott's Pack was filled with random kids that had been collected over the years. Derek couldn't feel them as there were no Pack bonds across the Packs, but he did have to wonder how Scott has never realized that Stiles' bond was with the Hale Pack, not the McCall Pack. Stiles never brought it up, so Derek didn't either. Derek had to wonder what had happened with that, but Derek never wanted to ask as he was afraid of his answer.

During Stiles' last year in college, he had come home one random Tuesday and asked Derek to join to his Pack. Derek had floundered and tried to get Stiles to explain, but Stiles told him that he accepted or was going to find another Pack and join them. Peter had never been able to figure it out either.

"Scott, any more word from Kira's mother about the Kitsune from three weeks ago?" Peter asked as the other Alpha settled down in the middle of the living room pile of pillows.

"Oh, uh, yeah. He's settled into the prison thing somewhere in Japan." Scott looked a little confused on why Peter would ask about that.

Derek kept his questions to himself. He would text Kira later and ask her about it. She kept in contact with him fairly regularly, but since Kira was Scott's ex, they tended to let him handle the more official things.

Jackson sat up from where he was and started to look around before he looked up and frowned. He kissed the side of Ethan's head and stood up. Lydia moved over to cuddle into Ethan instead. Derek tracked Jackson through the room and frowned when the younger man started up the stairs. While normally, Derek didn't mind any one of the Pack going where they wanted, he didn't want the man doing something stupid when it came to Stiles.

Derek got stopped, though, by Liam, who wanted to talk to him about the new training regime that he was doing with the people at the local gym.

By the time Derek got up to the library, he was afraid of what he was going to find. He didn't expect to see Cora sitting in a chair reading while Jackson was whispering to Stiles. They were both settled on the floor on a large mattress that was used when the Pack slept over. Stiles had his head buried in a pillow from Derek's bed, and he was laughing. Jackson had a smile on his face. He looked up when he realized that they were alone anymore and hesitated in what he was staying. That had Stiles looking up. He smiled at Derek and held out his hand.

Derek walked over and sat down on the edge of the mattress, looking at Jackson with a raised eyebrow when he realized just how close the two of them were cuddling.

"Text me next time, idiot," Jackson said he leaned down, and scent marked Stiles for a second, and then he started to get up. He kissed Cora's cheek, and then he was gone from the room.

"I think he heard Stiles' heartbeat when I left to grab Gabe's stuffed fox." Cora was looking at Stiles with a frown on her face. She was worried about him. It was her worried frown.

"Yeah," Stiles said. He blinked a few times and then just gave up all pretense that he wasn't most of the way to sleep. He buried his face into Derek's pillow again and just seemed to melt down into the mattress he was on. Only a few seconds later, his breathing was deepening, and he was asleep.

Stiles hadn't fallen asleep that quick or easy since he started to have nightmares. He had all but moved in with Derek, not even having the pretense of going home to his house with his father. Noah stopped by every day either before work if hew as working a late shift or when he was done when it was an early one. Derek enjoyed the man's visits.

"They talked about when Jackson was the Kanima, and Stiles was possessed. I didn't realize that Stiles felt that bad about what that thing did with his body, but I guess I am not shocked. He was also too soft for things like that."

"Yeah." Derek moved closer to him, and Stiles reached out in his sleep until he was touching a part of Derek.

"Jackson was his asshole self when telling Stiles that he needed to let it go. That he couldn't change it, and he couldn't just let himself ruin his life because of something he had no control over. I thought they still hated each other," Cora said.

"I think that ship sailed a long time ago. I know that they emailed each other after the Nogitsune. Lydia told Jackson what was going on or Danny. I don't know on that, but Stiles got an email one day when he was at my place. He freaked out a little but was calm by the time that I got to him. He was reading an email. They have a few similarities in that. It helped him more than anything else during that time. I know Jackson has been over here more, but I didn't even think that he was doing it to talk to Stiles."

"Jackson said he didn't even know that Stiles was here. He just assumed since the Pack was coming over that he was at his father's. Though I guess we shouldn't be shocked that no one else has thought a single thing about what is going on down there." Cora waved her phone, where Derek could see a chat thread with her and Lydia.

Derek looked at Gabe and Miguel. They were both out still. Derek thought about going back down, but Peter was down there and would let him know if he was needed. Food wasn't set to arrive for another hour, so Stiles could get an hour of sleep before Derek woke him up to eat. Derek wouldn't usually wake him, but he hadn't been eating a lot over the last three weeks, and he needed to. Derek wanted him to not get too sick while dealing with all of this.

"Is he going to stay?" Cora asked.

"I have no clue. He's not even tried to go home, and he's been in my bed every single night. I don't know what he wants."

"The same thing he's always wanted but never wanted to ask for. Ask him on a date for tomorrow," Cora said.

Derek looked at her and tried to figure out what she meant. Stiles had never seemed interested in dating anyone. After his infatuation with Lydia left, he hadn't even tried to date, anyone. There was a brief time where Derek was pretty sure that he was going to go out with Malia, but that had never panned out. They didn't even go on an actual date at all as far as he knew. Derek did know that Stiles had gone out and found a nice person to have sex with the day he turned eighteen. Or at least that was what he told the Pack when he came back smelling like sex after Scott had called him. Derek still wasn't that sure on that. Stiles had a way of lying to the Pack that never quite worked out the way that Derek thought that it would. No one but he picked it up that Stiles was lying, but even Derek wasn't sure that he actually was lying.

Looking down at Stiles, Derek knew that Cora wasn't wrong about him needing to ask Stiles on a date. It had been too long since Derek had accepted that he was already in love with the human, but it wasn't like Stiles had ever done anything that would make it easy for Derek to ask him out. Stiles was a mass of interesting emotions, but Derek had never smelled him being attracted to anyone. There was the smell that Derek associated with Stiles looking at him, something spicy and earthy at the same time. It was the only smell that every disrupted Stiles' scent profile enough that Derek noticed it. Well, outside of anxiety when something was going wrong.

It was in the quiet nights after Stiles' nightmares that Derek had fallen in love with him, and it was those nights that Derek hated that he missed when they hadn't been happening. Now though, he would do anything to get rid of them again.

* * *

Stiles didn't want to leave the house. It was a Saturday, and even a week ago, Derek got Stiles out to head into town to do some shopping, but today he didn't want to leave even Derek's bed. He looked less tired, but Derek wondered if something else had happened. He hadn't even woken up in the night with a nightmare. It was the first time that it had happened in three weeks. While he wasn't waking up screaming every time, he still woke from nightmares.

The Pack had left the house, even Peter, to give Derek some alone time with him so that they didn't need to worry about Stiles being worried about being overheard.

Derek entered the bedroom again to find Stiles reading on the Kindle just like he had been the last time that Derek had come into the room when he brought him lunch. The tray was empty, which was the only plus on the day so far. Stiles had eaten two full meals.

"Come cuddle, Derek," Stiles said as he rolled from his back to his side, leaving Derek's side of the bed empty so he could slip up onto it.

Derek did as he asked and wrapped his arm around him.

"Like your bed, smells like you, like home."

Derek inhaled at Stiles' words. He had no clue what Stiles was speaking about, but the wolf inside was happy that Stiles thought that he was home.

"So, where were you going to take me on this date tonight?" Stiles asked.

Derek nudged the back of Stiles' head, and he closed the Kindle cover and rolled in Derek's arms.

"I wasn't that asleep yet, and you were giving off those worrying vibes. So tell me." Stiles poked Derek in the chest before he leaned over and kissed the same spot.

Derek wasn't sure what the hell was going on with that. He just looked at Stiles. Stiles looked content and happy, something he had looked in close to a month.

"I was thinking of a movie and then a late dinner at that diner close to this side of the Preserve," Derek said.

"Hmm...I like that. I think I'll accept it."

"I haven't actually asked you out on a date."

"Well, considering that your sister had to bully you into it, I think that you'll just have to suck it up, buttercup." Stiles was smiling as he said the words. He reached up and pulled Derek's face down toward his own.

The press of Stiles' lips to his own was good, it was soft and gentle, much like everything had been between them since Stiles had been freed from the Nogitsune. When Stiles pulled back, he was smiling. It was a smile that Derek hadn't seen on his face in a long time. The smile that said he was happy.

"Enjoying your reading?"

"Yeah, it's been a long time since I was able to just spend a day in bed reading. I'm kind of enjoying it. Dad used to have to drag me out of bed to eat. Even with my ADHD, there were times that I could lay in bed all day on rainy days. The books keeping my mind content enough to just lay there. So yeah, I'm pleased with my day in bed. Thank you for indulging me in it."

"I'm glad you are happy." Derek pressed a kiss to Stiles' forehead just because he could. Stiles hummed in happiness, and Derek looked down at the Kindle that was lying on the bed. He saw that the formatting was weird in the book. "You should complain about the formatting of that book."

"Nah, it's a fanfic. I downloaded it from AO3 and sent it to your Kindle. That's why the formatting is weird. The person who uploaded it isn't that savvy yet, but the story seems interesting."

"You've been downloading fanfiction to my Kindle?" Derek asked. He had heard the Pack talking about it, and he knew what it was, but it wasn't something that interested him.

"Dude, I've been doing that for weeks. Sometimes it's nice to not have to try and remember new things. My brains are not exactly the best at ties after nightmares, and some stories on AO3 are just fucking fluff, which makes me feel good. I mean, who doesn't want to read a story about their favorite characters as they go shopping for curtains and get into play fights about which color is the best for the living room?"

Derek laughed, but Stiles' eyes were dancing with happiness. That was all that mattered.

"Never change, Stiles. Never change."

"I don't. I promise. You get me like this for the rest of our lives."

"I'll take that."

# The End

**Author's Note:**

> I write fanfiction for fun. It's a hobby and a stress relief. I refuse to stress over my writing. What you see is what you get. Errors, plot holes, and all. Thank you for reading my story!
> 
> I can be found on MeWe [here](https://mewe.com/i/beccaqueen1), join me there and we can discuss my fics and whatnot.


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